A Corpus-Based Investigation of yǒu in Singapore Mandarin: The Case for an Existential Perfect Marker

This paper investigates the functions of the auxiliary 有 yǒu in the ‘yǒu + verb phrase’ construction using spoken Singapore Mandarin data. It finds that yǒu is not a substitute of existing markers such as 了 le and 过 guo, as suggested by previous research. Instead, based on corpora data, yǒu codes for the existential perfect, as it serves to highlight the prior existence of an event or action in relation to a reference time.